How to Erase Potentially Negative Items From a Credit Report

It is possible to remove inaccurate, negative information from your credit report. Federal law gives you the right to dispute inaccurate information and have it removed within about 30 days. Negative information that is correct can remain for at least seven years, although you can ask creditors to have it erased.

Instructions

1

Get a copy of your credit report from the Annual Credit Report website. TransUnion, Equifax and Experian, the three nationwide credit bureaus, set up the website to provide free reports as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

2

Find negative items on your credit reports that are inaccurate. Contest the items by entering disputes online (see Resources) or by writing a letter to the credit bureau. Find the address on your credit report. The information will be removed if it is inaccurate. Go on to the next step if you're looking to erase negative information that is true.

3

Find potentially negative information on your reports such as charge-offs and collection items. Accounts listed as charged-off were closed by your creditor after you stopped making payments. The creditor considered the closed account a business write-off and then listed the negative entry on your credit report. Some of the accounts may have been sold to debt collection companies and listed as collection accounts. Remove these items by contacting the companies and offering to pay the amount due in exchange for the negative entries being erased from your credit report. This process is called pay-for-delete. There is no guarantee that the creditor will agree to remove the information, but it represents the one shot you've got to honestly have the accurate, negative information removed. The only other option available to you under the law is to wait until the information naturally drops off your credit reports after seven years.